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Graduate Studies

Applying for the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship

Award winners are selected according to criteria which are even more competitive than a typical postdoctoral fellowship. A two-stage internal review process is in place at McMaster to help identify the strongest applications and to select the most competitive candidates in each of the CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC research areas.

The Fall 2020 Banting PDF information is now available online and the deadline for complete application submission is Thursday, October 1, 2020 (8 p.m. EDT).

Important Deadlines

  • Monday, August 10, 2020, 10 a.m. Stage 1– Letter of Intent Package due to the SGS
  • Thursday, September 17, 2020, 10 a.m. Stage 2 – Endorsed applications due to SGS
  • Thursday, October 1, 2020, 8 p.m. EDT Banting ResearchNet online application submission

Determining The Area of Research before you begin your application

(CIHR, NSERC or SSHRC)

The onus is on the applicant and their proposed supervisor to carefully consider which selection committee should review the application. For more details, please consult the Application Guide- Task 6 > Identify area of research. If there is uncertainty, please send an email to banting@cihr-irsc.gc.ca with a one-page summary of the proposed research, and Banting staff will provide clarification.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

The Government of Canada is committed to ensuring that all trainees have equitable access to research funding and career support. Equity is an integral part of a sustainable research ecosystem as it encourages greater diversity among applicants. Studies show that diversity—of not only scientific expertise but also the people conducting and participating in the research—leads to more creativity and more innovation.

The Banting program strives to promote equity, diversity and inclusion throughout the application, review, and selection processes. To better equip all those participating in the Banting competition (applicants, host institutions, referees, reviewers and readers), the Tri-Agencies have curated an important list of resources to help guide each group.

More information about Equity, Diversity and Inclusion is available on Banting’s website. There are individual tabs for Applicants, Host Institutions, Referees and Reviewers and Readers.

ALL participants must review their appropriate tab in advance of completing their section of the application.

Research respectfully involving Indigenous communities

  • Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS 2), Chapter 9: Research Involving the First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples of Canada
    • The Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships (PDF) program is committed to supporting research by and with Indigenous Peoples. For applications in which the proposed research respectfully involves and engages Indigenous communities, applicants and host institutions should be aware of and refer to the principles and protocols established for this type of research.
    • Applicants whose proposed research respectfully involves and engages Indigenous communities are asked to include “This research respectfully involves and engages Indigenous communities” at the beginning of the lay abstract. The program administrator for each selection committee (CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC) will endeavour to ensure that the primary or secondary reviewer on these applications has expertise in Indigenous research. Reviewers and readers will be asked to read and take into consideration the following:

Note: Research respectfully involving Indigenous communities is defined as research in any field or discipline that is:

  • conducted by First Nations, Inuit, Métis or other Indigenous nations, communities, societies or individuals; and/or
  • grounded in or engaged with one or more of these communities and/or their wisdom, cultures, experiences or knowledge systems, as expressed in their dynamic forms, past and present.

Examples include:

  • projects in which water samples are extracted from Indigenous lands in South America
  • analyses of educational policies pertaining to Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians
  • cross-sectional studies of how injuries sustained by different groups of people, including Inuit youth, are treated